Combat Encounter
Combat Encounters occur when the players unsheath their weapons, shout a bloodcurdling roar, and charge into a perilous dance where only one side will remain standing. Combat encounters are a very important part of any role-playing game. It determines if the heroes vanquishes the vile foe, or if the warlord lives on to pillage and enslave. Creating A Combat Encounter There are five steps in creating combat encounters in Hodge. These guidelines help build encounters that are balanced with the party’s level and have awesome qualities. Feel free to bend things to fit what you want, you’re the Game Master and it’s your story. Party Count: The Party Count is equal to the number of characters in the adventuring party. Monster Count: The Monster Count determines how difficult the encounter is for the players. Take the Party Count and subtract 1 or 2 for an easy encounter, subtract nothing for moderate difficulty, or add 1 or 2 to make it hard. The resulting number is your Monster Count. Recruit: With the Monster Count from the last segment buy monsters based on their difficulty until you have spent your entire Monster Count. Minion creatures are 1/2 a point, normal creatures are 1 point, difficult creatures are 2 points, and boss creatures are 4 points. Simply grab the statistics and skills you find appealing under each category of monster you want to use. Adjust: Now we need to level up the monsters up to the players level. Take the highest level character in your party and subtract 1 from that. Multiply the results of that by three and add this amount to each monsters statistics however you like. Also each monster gets two additional skill point and a utility point for each level of the players. Flair: Now pick out a creature type from below, Utility Powers, and styles for each monster. You can also give weaknesses and resistances to your monsters. For each resistance give it a weakness to another type of damage with the same value. Feel free to modify the mess out of the monsters in order to create the desired affect you want. Creature Type Every creature has a creature type. The creature types that the players encounter may vary depending on the story the Game Master is telling. These are just a good base guideline to go by for generic fantasy adventuring. *'Aberration' these creatures are totally alien to us in some way. They could have an anatomy that is strange, or bizarre abilities from another world. Some mutants and genetically modified monsters would be classified as aberrations *'Beast' These are the feral creatures that include everything from forest animals to dragons. *'Construct' These machines of war run on cogs and oil. They have more metal in their makeup than flesh. Golems, droids, and homunculi are considered constructs. *'Elemental' These are the more primordial creatures of old. They are often composed of a single element over another. Ents and djinn are two examples of elementals. *'Humanoid' These are the bipedal creatures that have a similar anatomy to mankind. Giants, elves, and dwarves are all examples of humanoid creatures. *'Outsider' These are the angels, demons, and gods of your world. The ancient spirits that travel planes in order to enslave or free mankind. *'Undead' The living dead. Any hellish creature that is animate but not alive would be classified as undead. Zombies, vampires, ghouls, and mummies would be considered undead. Monsters *[[Minion Monsters|'Minion Monsters']] are worth 1/2 a point each for your Monster Count. These are the fodder that come in waves to warm the blood of the characters before the real challenges come. *[[Normal Monsters|'Normal Monsters']] are worth 1 point each for your Monster Count. These stand on relatively even footing with the players and give a fair challenge. *[[Difficult Monsters|'Difficult Monsters']] are worth 2 points each for your Monster Count. and represent forces that could easily raze the country side on their own unless a group of foes banded together to take them down. *[[Boss Monsters|'Boss Monsters']] are worth 4 each for your Monster Count. These vile denizens of Hell represent the final confrontation or a major hinderance in their path to success. Boss monsters could easily maim a player character without batting an eye.